Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[steve.ewing@ottawa.ca]

I keep waiting for some new photos of your progress but I guess you're keeping that under wraps. I'm sure the end result will be really impressivev. You have one lucky Civic!

[Steph]

Thanks Steve

I'll take some photos as they take it away for paint, but it's a bit of a mess in there at present... :P

[Steph]

I just spent $125 on stainless hardware for the motor! :shock: I'm replacing all the engine-gearbox bolts with stainless bolts. before anybody interjects, not one of those bolts is high tensile, and besides, stainless still has excellent tensile strength (these days it does), and bolts can be heat-treated to increase ductility to near-same levels of conventional bolts. They're available in two ratings, one is treated at 1000 degrees, the other 500 degrees, from memory. So you can buy high tensile stainless bolts, but the price will be high. That said, it's only a matter of time before China starts making those as well...

[Steph]

I found a gem on gumtree yesterday. It's just what I need for cutting clean cuts...

I'll cut all the 'additions' off and repaint it to make it look like new again... naturally the hardware will all be stainless! LOL!

In case you're interested, that motor is liquid cooled! It has the soluble-oil pump integrated into the electric motor, and a hard-line comes out the bottom and leads down into the coolant tray, and another hard line leads up to the hacksaw blade. I couldn't believe the quality of the engine casting when I first saw it. It has to be European (English, I expect). Anyway, imagine what a replacement motor would cost? :shock:

Next stop... Bridgeport Mill

[Steph]

Had to jump all over one of these so I could press the bearing onto the alternator armature. OK, I can hear Bill piping in and saying I didn't need a 12T shop press to do that job, but it really is more fun when you use the right tool... that's assuming this is the correct tool for that job, but either way, that's what I'm using it for... initially :P :oops:

http://www.lasoo.com.au/offer/tools-equ ... 8djs0.html

[Bill]

Naw, I was thinking that our 20T is on sale and I need a reason to go pick one up... and the dozen other things on my list...

[Steph]

I kept telling myself to drop down to the local workshop and use their's, but then this came up, and the rest is, well... history, as they say.

I ended up having to buy 6 kilos in total of the stainless shot to use in the vibratory polisher... that's A$270 worth of fracking stainless 'shapes'!!!

They better last a while at that price... I still need to buy a few different medias for various jobs. I'd like to try it on aluminium parts next, but not with stainless shot!

One thing I'm noticing... it's a glacial process. :(

[coupe72001]

Just finished reading all 39 pages of this build and I really enjoyed it. Compliments on your CAD work Steph.
I'm also looking forward to seeing how the car looks when it comes home.

[Steph]

Just finished reading all 39 pages of this build and I really enjoyed it. Compliments on your CAD work Steph.
I'm also looking forward to seeing how the car looks when it comes home.

Cheers for that!

Work continues. I finally found a NOS grill emblem last night... the holy grail of emblems... I say that because I've actually found NOS RS emblems before, but never a 78/79 grill emblem, which all seem to have crazed, or cracked with age. My old one is in excellent condition, it's just that it has that crazed effect, where the amber background has shrunk with sun and heat (it gets hot up there!). Anyway, I now have the FULL set of NOS emblems, and tomorrow I'm dropping the bumpers off to get a show-quality re-chrome. I'm hoping they'll sneak them in before xmas... paying cash is always a good incentive around xmas time, provided you're talking to the boss, and not a employee! LOL! The platers I use are owner-operated, so they definitely have 'incentive' to accept extra work.

I've almost finished polishing the crank pulley, water pump pulley, and alternator pulley. They'll all be sent out to chrome once the machine shop at the engine builders has re-balanced them, and measured the taper, etc, so they can be lightly re-machined after chrome to remove the buildup in the centre where the crankshaft and crank pulley mate together, and the same applies to the alternator pulley. It should be interesting to see their reaction when I roll up and set up my engine on the engine stand in their showroom. I'm taking in all the parts for a mock-up presentation. I figure once they see and hear my little 'presentation', they'll know exactly what I'm after I think this important in this situation, because it's impossible to convey my passion to them through words alone, or even words and images, but a mock-up explains in seconds what your vision is, and the builder knows their efforts will be contributing to something more worthwhile than a regular old engine build. Plus, they'll be starting and tuning the engine once I've finished fitting it... at least, that my plan. :P I really need them to take interest, because I want them to help/educate me when it's time to start her up. Plus, I'd want them to do a test run on the dyno to check the mixtures are safe, and not leaning out somewhere in the rev-range for some reason, etc. I most defintely do not want to burn out a valve! :shock:

[steve.ewing@ottawa.ca]

So you won't be coveting my bumpers anymore 8). It's my turn to covet now. I'm almost afraid to see pictures. :mrgreen: with envy.